2 hurt in Caloocan oil tanker blast

MANILA, Philippines - Two men were seriously injured when a tanker they were filling with bunker fuel exploded at a used-oil recycling plant in Bagbaguin, Caloocan City Monday night.

Senior fire investigator SFO4 Arnel Ibasco said the tanker entered the Bensan Industries compound at around 6:30 p.m.

Victims Kenny Rife, 19, and Arjay Natalio, 27, were on top of the tanker’s platform and filling the second half of the tanker’s two compartments with bunker oil when the explosion occurred at around 7:30 p.m.

Ibasco said “light oil” was first unloaded from the tanker before it was filled with bunker fuel. The tanker, worth P2 million to P3 million, was destroyed, along with P500,000 worth of fuel.

The impact threw Rife and Natalio eight feet in the air. Fire investigators are eyeing static electricity and chemical reaction as possible causes of the blast.

Rife and Natalio were initially taken to the Valenzuela General Hospital and later transferred early yesterday morning to the Manila Central University (MCU) Hospital on EDSA.

Ibasco said at presstime, the two have not been x-rayed yet to determine the extent of their injuries. The MCU Hospital has no burn unit, he added. It was not clear why the two were not yet transferred to hospitals with adequate burn treatment facilities.

Benjamin Santos, owner of Bensan Industries and chairman of the Filipino Inventors Society, could not be immediately reached for comment.

Santos is engaged in the recycling of used oil and is the multi-awarded inventor of T2, a recycled oil extracted from asphalt and widely used by all motorcycles in the country.

Yvonne Salazar, VY Petroleum tanker owner, promised to provide for the hospitalization and medical help of the victims.      – Jerry Botial